Jump and Run!

I got to go to Rachel's track meet yesterday and watch her compete in the long jump and in the 400 meters and the 1600 meter relay (4 people each run 400m). And even though it was cloudy, and windy and even a few drops of rain came down, Rachel did GREAT!!

So I thought I would include a few pics of Rachel doing the long jump into the sand pit and one of her running. I had a great time watching her...even with a wind chapped face.

Great job Rachel!

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!

I had a desire to put a post up on the blog for each person's birthday. I started this with Josh Winton back on February 26. However since then I have failed to do it.

So, today is Liz's birthday and so I am starting back and making up for past birthdays that I missed.

So first of all. Happy 14th Birthday Liz - 4/19. Hope you have a wonderful birthday and a fun time celebrating with your family and friends.

Last Thursday, April 12th was Laurel's birthday. I am sorry Laurel for forgetting to post a Happy Birthday to you. But Happy Belated 13th Birthday Laurel. I hope you had a great birthday.

And I missed Andrea's sweet 16th Birthday on March 18th. So a very happy, very belated birthday to Andrea as well.

Happy Birthday everyone!

Thoughts and Prayers...

First let me thank all of you for your prayers these past few days as I have been sick. Just a sinus infection but to me it was significant...enough to cause me to go to the dreaded DOCTOR!! - horrific scream-. Anway, I am feeling much better now as the doctor loaded me up with medications to take. And I am thankful that the Lord is using these medications to bring strength back to my body.

But that is not what this post is about. As many of you are probably aware, yesterday was a tragic day in our nation's history with the murders that took place at Virginia Tech. The worst shooting in American history as I'm sure you have heard based on the number of people killed - 33 or 34.

But what I find interesting in times of national tragedy is how often prayer is mentioned. I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say on these news programs to keep the Virginia Tech family in our thoughts and prayers or that someone being interviewed or speaking says that the VT family is in their thoughts and prayers. Now, I am certainly not against people saying that, but how come it is ok to pray in tragedies and difficulties, but not when things "seem" to be going fine. Or maybe "thoughts and prayers" is just a saying that shows we care. Whatever the case, it is rather ironic that it is demanded by some that public prayer be banned, thrown out, and not mentioned until we seem to be in a place of "real need". Truthfully we ALL need prayer ALL the time because we ALL need to be depending on God.

But as I think of all these people saying they are praying, two questions come to my mind: Are people really praying? Are the prayers of these people being heard?

The reason for that last statement is that there are conditions or requirements for prayer...ones that often are forgotten. I take these from a book called Basic Bible Doctrine by R.C. Barth - founder of Friends of Alcoholics, a friend of our families, and the man whom the Lord used to show me my need of salvation; a man I hold in high regard as a man of God's Word.

The first requirement for being on "praying ground" is having a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, a person has to be saved. If a person is not saved (an unbeliever) then God does not hear their prayer. Sure God knows what they are saying because He is omniscient and so in that case he knows or hears their prayer. But we can only come before God in prayer through our relationship with Jesus Christ who is the Mediator between God the Father and us. Therefore, no relationship with God through Christ = no access to the Father.

The second requirement for being on "praying ground" is having fellowship with God. This concerns believers - those who already have a relationship with God. We do not have fellowship with God if we have unconfessed sin in our lives. So we must confess (say the same thing about our sin that God says about it - calling sin, sin and acknowledging we are guilty) our sin and restore that fellowship before we can have this access to God in prayer.

So relationship and fellowship are the two requirements for being on praying ground. Sincerity is not a requirement. I am sure that there are many people sincerely praying for the VT family during this time whose prayers God will not hear because they are not on "praying ground". While that may not seem like the nicest thing to say, the truths we have mentioned are based in God's Word. That is where I will stand for the truth. For those of us who are on praying ground, we must be faithful to pray often. We have been called to do so.

No Resurrection = No Hope!

Sometimes as we think about the gospel message we understand the importance of Christ's death on the cross for our sins, but we do not completely understand the full importance of Christ's resurrection in the gospel.

In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul makes it clear that the resurrection is part of the gospel and is important in salvation. In vv.2-4 he says "By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,..." Obviously the resurrection is important for someone to understand if they are placing their faith in Jesus Christ. I mean, who would want to believe in someone who died and is still dead.

Paul goes on in vv. 13-14: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

Then in v. 17: "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins."

And finally in v. 20: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

This would be the longest blog ever if we went into all of the things that were provided for us by Christ's resurrection. But I want us to understand that Christ's resurrection means so much for as Christians. Without it, we have no hope and are still in our sins. Without it we have no eternal life. No doubt, it is something to remember every day and it is great to celebrate it on Easter.

For Christ to be our Savior, He had to be resurrected. His resurrection was just as important as His death for our salvation.

Romans 4:25 tells us that Christ was raised for our justification. Justification means that God the Father declares us to be NOT GUILTY. Although we have been forgiven, justification goes beyond that. Forgiveness recognizes guilt but refrains from judgement, justification declares one not guilty. But we are guilty as sinners (Romans 3:23), so how can God declare us not guilty? Only because Christ paid for our sins when He died on the cross. He died in our place and was made sin for us. And only if all sin had been paid for completely would God the Father be able to declare us not guilty. And if all sin had not been paid for, then Christ would not have been raised. Sin results in death and if a single sin placed on Christ had not satisfied God in payment of that sin, Christ would still be dead. But HE IS ALIVE and therefore the payment for sin was satisfactory to God.

We also read in that passage that Christ was the firstfruits of the resurrection. Because He was the firstfruits, we know that we too will be resurrected one day. In fact, all people will be raised one day. Those who are believers (having placed their faith in Christ ALONE for salvation) will be raised at the rapture (church age believers) and at the end of the tribulation (tribulation saints and OT saints). Unbelievers will be raised after the 1,000 year rule of Christ. Believers will be raised and spend eternity in heaven; unbelievers will be raised and spend eternity in hell.

As believers we are told that we are identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:4-5). This means we have resurrection life at the moment we trust Christ as Savior. Because of this resurrection life that we have, we should count ourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11).

We also have resurrection power in Christ. The same power that raised Christ is available to Christians. We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. We have power from God. We must utilize it. Because of Christ's work we have this available to us. This doesn't mean you are going to start healing people and raising people and flying and all that like super powers. But you have power from God meaning that nothing is too great to overcome in our lives...especially when we fall short. (Eph. 1:18-20)

We could go on, but I will stop there. Be reminded of the importance of Christ's resurrection and understand that Christ was raised so we do have hope. And give praise to God for it.

Resurrection = Hope!

Since when do bunnies lay eggs?

Have you ever wondered where bunnies and eggs came from for Easter? And how about all that chocolate that is supposedly necessary to really celebrate Easter? Isn't Easter supposed to be a celebration of Christ's resurrection?

YES!! For the believer, Easter is a remembrance and celebration of Christ's resurrection after His death (which is the focus of Good Friday). Hopefully, as believers we will never be so overrun by bunnies, colorful eggs, and chocolate that we lose sight that our Savior who died for us is alive today. More thoughts on that to come in another post.

So, what is with the egg laying bunnies? I mean, I hope we all know that baby bunnies don't hatch out of eggs like baby birds do. A rabbit is a mammal, they give birth like humans do (and that is as far as we will go with that).

So in my curiosity I went to GoodSearch (for Kelly Lamonica's school - Krug Elementary) and typed in "the history of bunnies and Easter". And I was directed to www.history.com. And since Easter is coming up they apparently are giving the history of Easter. So here is what I found out.
Easter is now celebrated on Sunday but used not to be so. Some, even still, want Easter to be a fixed date like Christmas (Dec. 25th if you were unaware). Originally, Christians of Jewish origin celebrated Christ's resurrection immediately after Passover festival and so Easter took place on different days of the week. Gentile Christians though wanted it celebrated on Sunday, the first day of the week. The Council of Nicaea got involved in 325 A.D. and ruled that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. Got that! Anyway, more calendar discrepancies and stuff happened, but the end of the matter is that we celebrate Easter on Sunday but it could be different Sundays.

Now, for some pagan Easter origins. Since only believers were celebrating Christ's resurrection, the unbelievers also had celebrations not related to Christ's resurrection that began to filter into Christian Easter celebrations and are the reason that we have bunnies and eggs and the such today. New life is the central element. Unbelievers celebrated the new life of spring and fertility. In fact, the word "Easter" apparently is derived from Eastre who was the Anglo Saxon Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. Eggs have long been a mythological symbol of birth and in the 13th century Christians began using eggs in Easter celebrations. The yolk was said to symbolize Christ's emergence from the tomb and the eggs were painted red to symbolize Christ's shed blood.

Soon however, the eggs were more than just red and the eggs "hatched" their own traditions including games like the Easter egg roll. The White House actually hosts an annual Easter egg roll every year - this year on Monday after Easter.

The bunny had long been a symbol of new life in European pagan celebration due to the fertility of rabbits. Apparently in Europe, especially among the Germans, there was a tradition that a bunny named "Oschter Haws" (interesting name for a bunny) would come to homes on Easter eve (sounds a lot like Santa Claus in a bunny costume) and leave colored eggs for children. Because of this children started leaving "nests" for the eggs to be put into, and from this came the Easter baskets and egg hunts and the such. Easter eggs were painted many different colors representing colors of spring and of course we know Easter eggs are painted all different ways now a days.

So what about all the chocolate. Well, you didn't think those chocolate makers were going to pass up on a way to make a profit did you? Of course not! So, in the 19th century (surprised it took that long), chocolate eggs and the like began being made to put into the Easter baskets and from there it has only escalated to the craziness that it has become today. In fact, billions (that's right, with a B) of dollars are spent every year on Easter candy. I spent a couple of dollars myself recently since my wife loves Cadbury Cream Eggs (of course laid by the Cadbury rabbit - those eggs aren't so good scrambled though).

So a new life celebration for the unbeliever - spring, fertility, eggs, bunnies, chocolate - that is where it comes from according to the history website.

I do not believe it is wrong for a believer to have Easter egg hunts or get chocolate and all. But if we forget the purpose of Easter (just like Christmas), that we are celebrating Christ's resurrection, and we allow the secular things of Easter to dim the importance of that, then we have a problem. So eat your candy, pet your bunnies, dye your Easter eggs (by the way probably want to use boiled eggs, the other ones are a pain to clean up); but don't forget that without the death and resurrection of Christ there would be NO new life. True new life is found in Jesus Christ alone!

Knocking out a wall!

This past Saturday at the CBC Work Day, we were able to begin phase 1 of the youth room rennovations. Phase 1 involved knocking out part of the wall dividing the current youth room with the old youth storage/office room to make one big room.

Thanks to Alan Arnold for telling Brad and I what to do since I really didn't know where to start. We had a good time smashing the wall in. And now we have a little bit more room and a big metal pole in the middle of the room. We were also able to finally hang up our missionary map which has been sitting on the heater thing and getting bowed. Hopefully now it will straighten out.

By the way, what do you suggest we do with that pole. Since it gets really dark in those two rooms when we play capture the flag and flashlight tag, we probably should do something with it so someone doesn't eat it in the dark. Brittany suggests painting it with glow in the dark paint and letting everyone sign their names on it with a sharpie. Do you agree? Do you have any other thoughts?

All right, one phase down, 18,000 phases to go. Just kidding.

Skate Night recap...

Sorry it took so long for me to blog about the skate night and post a couple of pictures. But since Katie requests a post about it, I'll try...

Well, we skated and it was fun! Ok, that's it.

Alright, maybe I can say something else. Let's see. We skated in a circle for almost 2 hours. We did the hokie pokie thing, had a 15 minute devotion (even though my limit was 10 minutes...hey I thought that was pretty good) and talked about the importance of encouraging one another with our words rather than discouraging and insulting one another. We saw that the tongue is very powerful - like a bit in a horse's mouth or the rudder of a ship (James 3:3-4). Then we continued to skate to some good music, had some skating races and then had a final skate with a friend to Butterfly Kisses.(sniff, sniff; shedding a tear)

Some people spent more time at the snack bar then on skating rink. Others spent quite a bit of time on the floor. But overall, everyone seemed to have a pretty good time - hope you did!